Context

2 Corinthians 3:17
“Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

This is a verse that is sometimes taken out of context and twisted. At times it is brought out to be used to justify some kind of behavior or speech that is less than holy in the name of our Christian liberty. I have started a lot of posts over the last year on the topic of how the concept of liberty is misused, mistaught and abused often in many, many discussions I run across in various blogs, usually by people who like to use the word ‘relevant,’ but I have never ended up posting my rants. Too often, when anyone starts saying there are standards of decent behavior that a person who loves Christ will begin to want to strive toward and that there are certain uses of language that are not edifying and have no place in a Christian’s dialogue, they are accused of being legalistic or, worse, of promoting a works based salvation message.

I have found in wading through many discussion threads over the past several years that this is not usually an honest argument. It is true that when we have been delivered from the dominion of darkness and placed in the kingdom of Christ’s light, we will desire to be more like Christ. We will yearn for holiness. And it is true that we are to put off worldly thinking and behaving and put on the mind of Christ. Not that we are to shut ourselves up in the Christian, evangelical subculture and never rub shoulders with unbelievers as some would do, but that we would be shining lights as we seek to live as ambassadors for Christ to the people who are still trapped in the darkness. But we are told to put off filthy speech and to put off unrighteous behavior. We are also told the kinds of behavior, thinking and speech to put on. All the mind numbing arguments about word etymologies and justifications of why ‘bad’ words aren’t really ‘bad’ words and all the snide comments about the ‘lists’ of words we supposed ‘legalists’ think are filthy are just blowing smoke. Honestly, we all know when someone’s speech is filthy and when it does not edify. And sometimes it has nothing to do with specific words and everything to do with how and why something is being said. We are called to be separate. That does not mean that we have to live and look like people from a long past era, but that we live in our culture in a modest and uncompromising way, not bending to the pressures to be crass and vulgar and overtly sensuous and self-serving and rude – you get the picture.

The thing that bothers me the most about the arguments I often run into about being ‘relevant’ to the culture around us and indulging in behaviors and language in our so-called “freedom” to use words and focus on things that, let’s be honest, we all know are not edifying and are not conducive to a holy lifestyle or fill our minds with things that make it that much harder to think on the things we ought, is that the proponents of such things so often mischaracterize those of us who think such things are dangerous to a Christian’s witness and well-being as stuck in the 1950’s or something. They pretend to be somehow better enlightened about their convoluted readings of scripture and pretend to have no understanding and continue to mischaracterize what we mean by our concern over the continuing slide of evangelicals into a sloppy, unbiblical, worldly, shallow, self-indulgent understanding of the Christian life and what it means to be growing in sanctification. The Christian life is one of surrender to Christ and seeking His glory, not one of seeking to indulge my flesh and justify that indulgence by saying I am just being ‘relevant’ to the culture. My language and behavior and lifestyle and dress all say something about what is important to me. If I sound and look and act exactly like my unsaved neighbors, what is there about me that would even cause them to ask me to give an answer for the hope that is in me - or even recognize there is anything different about me at all? Let’s face it, we all know that certain things are not seen as holy, even by the pagans who participate in them. I suspect that when we are cussing and drinking and partying and dressing immodestly we are not seen as ‘relevant’ but as hypocrites. And rightly so, in my opinion.

Okay, that turned into more of a rant than I intended. That’s why I haven’t yet finished one of those many posts I’ve started on this topic – they always turn into rants.

Anyway, here’s the point I meant to be making. Taking that verse in context gives it an extremely different meaning. Want to see? I have to back up to verse 7, and I’m going to put in bold something I wanted to emphasize.

2 Corinthians 3:7-18
“But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.

Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech – unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

The liberty being spoken of is liberty from spiritual blindness. The veil over our understanding is taken away in Christ. When we, in faith, turn to Him the scales fall from our eyes and the Holy Spirit begins teaching us as we read His word. We begin to grow in the knowledge and understanding of His word. This is the liberty. We are freed from sin and given eyes to see the glory of Christ. And in seeing that glory, we who have tasted of the grace of Christ are being transformed into His image. This is the liberty we celebrate. To say it is liberty to live any other life than one surrendered to the holiness of Jesus Christ is to misunderstand and twist the scripture.

Therefore, always, always, always search the scripture to be sure what is being taught is really what the Word is saying.